Case Number 27538: Small Claims Court

Joy Ride 3: Road Kill (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

This is why Judge Gordon Sullivan walks everywhere.

The Charge

A full-throttle, pedal-to-the-metal chill ride!

The Case

There's nothing in the world quite like the American highway system. Sure,
the Europeans got their autobahns and whatnot, but America has these long
stretches of highway that go through areas with nary a soul to be found. And
those roads often lead to unexpected places, whether it's a particularly
beautiful vista, or the world's largest collection of belly button lint. It's no
surprise, then, that some of America's great movies are about cars, drivers, and
the open road. But everything has a dark side, and it's no surprise that the
slasher tradition really gets it start on a lonely stretch of passed-over
highway at the Bates Motel in Psycho. Other horror films
have taken up that tradition, but none quite so plainly as the original Joy Ride, which transported the slasher killer
directly onto the road trip film. It was a good idea, at least at first, but
whatever spark the idea had has largely gone out with Joy Ride 3: Road
Kill.

Joy Ride 3: Road Kill opens on a pair of meth heads having hopped-up
sex in a motel room. She insists on more meth, but he can't deliver. Then they
settle on the bright idea of coaxing a trucker to their room to roll him for
cash or drugs. Never you mind why a pair of meth heads have a CB handset in
their motel, as they contact a trucker and convince him to show up. The only
problem is that they get a hold of Rusty Nail (Ken Kirzinger, one of the
stuntmen from Joy Ride 2). He shows up and immediately overpowers the
meth heads, strapping them to the front of his truck before running over them.
That appetizer over, we get to the meat of the story, as a team of race car
drivers on their way to a rally cut off Rusty, and he pursues in his usual
bloody way.

Everybody loves a franchise cash-in, and as long as there's even a hint of
name recognition it seems like someone will greenlight a low budget horror
flick. No one that I'm aware of was really clamoring for a Joy Ride 2
seven years after the original, and there was probably even less interest almost
seven years after that film. But with original star Paul Walker recently
deceased and original co-writer J.J. Abrams all over the news, I guess somebody
thought it was a good idea. At the helm this time is Declan O'Brien, perhaps
most famous for Sharktopus, and the
fourth and fifth entries in the Wrong
Turn franchise.

It's not surprising, then, that Joy Ride 3 feels like the unholy
child of a Fast and Furious movie
crossed with Saw spiced with Wrong
Turn. The relatively pedestrian chases of the first two films have been
replaced with the race car. The Saw element comes through in Rusty's
tortures, especially with the first couple, whom he offers a chance at salvation
if they can only survive his sadistic games for a mile. Finally, of course, the
Wrong Turn elements come through not in the inbred villains, but the fact
that our crew literally take a wrong turn in a desolate, largely unspecified,
portion of America.

With such a pedigree, Joy Ride 3 should offer more pleasures than it
does. Instead, it's a largely lifeless run through the expected slasher tropes.
We've got the killer, the group of victims, a bit of cat and mouse, and some
kills. Heaven knows I've seen worse, much worse, but with the all the
ingredients here, from the well-defined killer to the car chases, Joy Ride
3 should add up to a tastier stew.

It's not all bad, of course. Joy Ride 3: Road Kill is proud of its
unrated status, and isn't afraid to give us body parts and lots of blood when
the time comes to kill. The film feels like a throwback in an era with lots of
PG-13 horror flicks. The film is also pretty well paced; the first 10 minutes
make a nice preview, and then the film quickly establishes the team and their
transgressions against Rusty. The film moves rather quickly, so even if you know
what's coming and aren't impressed, the film doesn't linger long enough to be
painful.

This Blu-ray set isn't awful either. The film's 1.78:1/1080p AVC encoded is
actually surprisingly excellent. Detail is sharp throughout, and motion looks
especially good, including the car chases. Colors are slightly washed out, by
intention, but black levels are deep and consistent. The DTS-HD 5.1 track is
similarly impressive, with lots of surround effects during action scenes, and
dialogue that stays clean and clear from the front.

Extras start with a commentary from O'Brien, who has a lot to say about the
film. So much so that he appears again with 10 minutes of "Die-aries," which
offer a peek at the making of the film. A more traditional making-of featurette
is included as well, along with six minutes of deleted scenes, some pre-viz, and
a featurette on casting Large Marge. A DVD and an Ultraviolet digital copy of
the film are also included.

Joy Ride 3: Road Kill will satisfy slasher fans looking for a bit of
blood and gore, but it's nothing special. Even fans of the franchise's previous
entries will want to skip this one, given how few of the original creative team
are on board here.